The Peppers of Meeanee
(Hawkes Bay, N.Z.)
Late Victorian/Edwardian Kiwis,
Mother's siblings came in quick succession:
these sons and daughters made the migrant
Guthries proud. Donegal and the Shetlands
were lost places. But Robert's wife fell sick
and died; Bella his first-born must leave school
to help. Robert and Bella managed, just -
some kids got some schooling, Kay (my mother)
even became a teacher. Bella wed
a bandy little ex-jockey, farmhand
Arthur Pepper. What befell them next
was dire - Bella's head ached, she lost
control of legs, arms and jaws. Doctors
in Napier guessed (this was in the '20s)
she must have a brain tumour. Rare was
brain surgery back then, rarer was it
successful. The young surgeon who opened
Bella's skull was skilful and in luck.
Survived, recovered, learned to walk and talk;
back home, resumed her family tasks.
Away they all went in turn, until
the Peppers had only old Robert
to look after, bouncing grandchildren
on his lap, reading the Napier paper, every word.
She got about on walking sticks
grateful for help - wood for the kitchen
stove, the fire that boiled the laundry copper,
the water pumped from the artesian bore.
Arthur biked each day to whichever farm
needed him. Horses were way back
in his past. Only at the pub did he
talk about them before the unsteady walk home.
With Bella (fumbled speech) it was the vege-patch,
the chance of rain, the ailments
of the locals. We kids would ask
'Why does auntie Bella talk like that?'
'Look closely at her tongue.' We did - it had
a jagged edge. Bella when the tumour struck
had bit, bit and bit her own tongue.
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